Belong
by AGoldenCharm
Summary: It all started and continued and hopefully would never end with Tina Cohen-Chang...


**A/N: Taking a quick break from some of the ongoing stories to write a one-shot! Hope you guys like it. :)

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Everyone thought that Mike would someday end up in a dance studio. In fact, there were a lot of places people had _expected_ him to land, and even though he hadn't really made it his job to defy all these expectations, he somehow managed to avoid most of them anyway. He's got reasons for most of them, but he's also got this theory that a lot of them just _happened_. Because he gets kind of tired explaining why he chose to go into engineering, which kind of blew everyone's mind because he had barely passed his physics class back in high school but somehow he got involved in engineering in college and it had magically blossomed from there (cars _fascinated_ him and once he had started working an internship for an automotive company, he knew he had made the right choice). Everyone had created these preconceptions about how Mike's life would unfurl and they had been pretty wrong about a lot of them.

And he didn't really like remembering that he sort of let a lot of people down by turning down the opportunity to open a dance studio in Lima. But he knew the opportunity was shot as soon as he went off to college in New York. Lima had that particular opportunity, but New York had _Tina_.

It all started and continued and hopefully would never end with Tina Cohen-Chang. Once they had both gotten into NYU, he knew that staying in Lima was completely out of the question, no matter how many dance hopefuls were lined up back in Lima. And even though it had taken a hell of a lot of convincing on his part toward both his parents and Tina, he knew that if he was about to commit for _real_ to Tina, a short-lived dream of dancing was not an option. Because Mike's a dreamer, but he's also pragmatic. He could dream of spending the rest of his life with Tina even if he was only fresh out of high school, but he also can dream about supporting her and a family with a steady income, not a broken one that depended too much on a local business that could collapse at any moment.

His parents would have argued against his choice if it wasn't for his attempt to go into engineering. Because even though they hated the idea of chasing after a girl so early on in life, they _loved_ the idea that he was going to pull in a "real income", as they called it. Mike's actually kind of proud of how well he dodged their bullet because even though he hates defying his parents, he knew that he wasn't ready to give up Tina.

And that's why he's here today. That's why he's taking the last of his classes during the day, working his internship past eight, and coming back to the apartment that he and Tina share every night, exhausted but remembering why he had made all those decisions in his past. And part of him kind of wonders why they even bothered living in dorms their freshmen year of college because they spent every last second together, anyway. His roommate had forced the tie-on-the-door policy so early on in the year, it was almost a little embarrassing, and Tina's roommate had made a point of staying as far away as possible whenever the two of them would spend time in Tina's dorm. But as soon as they had managed to snag a ridiculously expensive apartment (for a rather decent price, too, seeing as how it was New York City), Mike knew that things would settle in between the two of them.

Because he likes to think that he and Tina aren't a typical couple. A lot of things dictate this, in his opinion, but the biggest thing is that people kept waiting for them to break up. Or even just take a break from their relationship because of college or the summer or anything else that life might throw at them. But the more they stayed in their relationship, the less he wanted to ever date anyone besides her, and most guys would have considered it a mindless trap, but he wouldn't have had it any other way. They got into fights at least three times a week, but they never drifted.

He's grateful for a lot of things, and one of them is her hair. Which sounds stupid when he says it out loud (especially when she laughs at him for it), but it looks amazing when it's curling down toward her chest and she's got it pinned up with a sparkly red hair pin. She's long since ditched the full-out goth look but she still likes to wear little black dresses, which he's all for, especially because little means skin and he can't really get enough of that. Today, she's wearing red, though, and it looks mind-blowingly beautiful on her. There are no straps to this dress, and it's help up entirely by her breasts, which he can't really get over, but he tries not to stare because she's also got miles of legs coming out underneath the ruffly hem of her dress. Part of him wants to make love to her right then and there and the other part of him wants to toss everyone out of the restaurant because there are _definitely _guys staring and he wants to punch them all in the eyes for checking out his girl. But can you really blame them? She's kind of doing an incredible job at reminding him what he's there for today.

Because there's gotta be some kind of record for how many times he's planned out tonight in his head. He's gone over everything that could possibly go wrong and everything that could possibly go better than he had originally anticipated and now his mind is mostly just total oatmeal because he can barely remember how to walk in a straight line anymore. She's arriving from her late night rehearsal for a pretty big community musical that's going on in New York. It's not Broadway, which she's griped about over a thousand times at this point, but they both know that she's well on her way. There's bound to countless scouts watching this musical because it's _New York_ and he's pretty damn proud of her for even being able to land such a prominent role in it, even if it is community theater. She had agreed to a late night dinner, which they go out to once every month or so, and she had also agreed to meet him after her rehearsal got out, which was impressive in itself because she must have changed in a matter of seconds to have arrived so early.

Tina's all kinds of beautiful, which sometimes he shamefully forgets, but right now, it's the only thing on his mind as she approaches the maître d' and makes a motion toward the rest of the restaurant, probably asking if he's arrived yet. The maître d' is a woman, thank god, because Mike can't really deal with another guy checking out Tina, and she nods cheerfully and walks Tina over to where he's sitting.

He's dressed in a gray tux, which he had been really hesitant to buy a couple months ago, but Tina had convinced him to because when they had gone shopping together and he had tried it on, she had gaped at him for a good minute before gushing on and on about how it accentuated his body or something as if guys' bodies could actually be _accentuated_. But she thought he looked sexy in it, so that was really all that mattered to him. Plus, she had slipped into his dressing room when the lady working there wasn't looking and they had made out for well over twenty minutes before the attendant had knocked impatiently on the door. When she notices that he's wearing it, she gives him a huge grin and sits down across from him, but not before tweaking the lapel of the tux with a wink.

"Hi you."

And after- how many years has it been now? Going on six years, he thinks- her voice still gets to him each time she opens her mouth. It's no wonder she's a singer because her voice is gorgeous on more levels than he can even comprehend. She sings in the apartment all the time, partly because she likes to but mostly because he requests it because he will never, ever grow tired of hearing her sing.

"Hi you," he says softly as she unfolds her napkin and places it across her lap. She's totally already shed her heels underneath the table even though he can't see because the tablecloth is really long because she's already running her bare foot up and down his leg. "How was rehearsal?"

"Terrible," she wrinkles her nose in the most adorable way possible and it takes all his energy to restrain himself from leaning across the table and kissing her nose because he's pretty sure that he'd knock over all the silverware and he can kind of imagine the tablecloth getting caught on his pants or something ridiculous and yanking it off the table in the process.

"Why?"

He's heard countless stories about Perry, the director of the musical, who Tina absolutely despises, and he prepares himself for another one because from what he understands, Perry is a pretty obnoxious guy. Granted, his opinion about Perry is extremely biased and all, but Mike still kind of wants to meet him one day and beat him up for causing Tina so much pain.

"The show times are getting pushed back because the stage crew isn't ready yet. And one of Broadway's biggest scouts was supposed to show up to the original show time but now we're not sure if he's gonna be there because he might be out of town."

"That's awful, T," he soothes as he places his hand over hers because if there's anything he's learned from dating Tina for so long is that she thrives on comfort. He knows that she spills when she's upset and he's always there to coax the misery away because that's what he's there for. It's always so, so worth it when she comes to, collapsing in his arms and whispering his three favorite words before hugging him tight and hard. And sure, she'll sometimes be crying and tears will be tumbling down her cheeks and she'll sniffle non-stop, but he knows how to fix those, too.

"We hear back from him tomorrow," she sighs, leaving her hand under his and playing with the little pearl in her ear with her other hand. Her eyes are tired. They're heavy from fatigue and he knows she hasn't been sleeping well these past couple of days because of all the stress from this musical. She's had nightmares on more than one occasion and he's stayed up with her each time, rocking her gently in their bed and wishing he could sing to her the way she could sing to him. His voice isn't bad or anything but he can't help but speculate that if he tried to comfort her by singing, she'd just end up wincing at his intonation. Even though she's actually way too nice to do something like that.

His fingers travel down to his pocket, where there's a sizable box nestled in there. And yes, this is why both of them are here today. He's got a little speech prepared and everything but he's pretty damn sure that he'll crack in the middle of it and she's going to end up laughing because he'll sound like a quavering mess halfway through. But he's prepared as much as humanly possible and he knows that he's ready because it's been six years.

Not that he had planned to do this after dating her for exactly six years, but it's been long enough and they've spent enough days and weeks and months and _years_ together that he knows that it's time. Two weeks ago, he had made his way into a jewelry store and spent an hour walking back and forth amongst the display counters. The sales clerk got pretty pissed after the first half hour but Mike had waved him off and continued his search.

When he had originally pictured finding Tina the perfect ring, he had kind of seen it in his mind's eye that it would just be smack dab in the middle of the first display case he came upon and it would be so ridiculously obvious that it was The One that he would buy it right then and there without even having to think twice. But reality didn't really work that way, and he had instead missed The One four times on accident as he paced around the store. But there it was, tucked in between two other rather hideous rings, in all its diamond and jewel-encrusted glory and when he finally found it, he could feel the air escaping his body immediately after. It was expensive, that was for sure, and his internship didn't really pay all that well, but his parents had lent him some money and he had decided firmly on that ring and took it home immediately after purchasing it.

The box is black. The box is black but the ring is all silver and the reason why he had picked it so adamantly is because the ends swirl intricately on itself and tangles in a shape that almost reminds him of a skull but not in a creepy way. It's probably because he's seen thousands upon thousands of skulls in Tina's outfits in high school so that _everything_ looks like a skull to him now (which sounds morbid but really isn't), but the ring itself is gorgeous and he knows. He knows it's The One.

Just like Tina's The One. And he's not really into chick flicks and gushy romance the way some girls are but he doesn't really believe in sappy things like love at first sight or eternal love but he does believe in Tina. He believes in every moment they've ever spent together and every kiss they've ever shared and he believes in them being together because that's all he wants. And he's gotten crap about it before, especially from some of the guys down at the office where he interns because they all insist that he hasn't played the field nearly enough in order to be able to tell that Tina's the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with but he doesn't really listen to them (mostly because amongst them all, there are two divorces and three single guys, so what kind of credentials are those?).

They order in between their recollections of their own days. Sometimes, Mike feels like they're already a married couple because they have conversations like one. Mike recalls a moment at work when one of the guys had accidentally turned in his report that was supposed to be a joke in and had gotten in huge trouble with the boss because the report had fluently made fun of how often their boss says the word "like". Tina tells him about her solo that she had rehearsed today, in context, and about how how incredible it had felt to be back up on stage, singing such a riveting song and how excited she was to perform it live in front of a whole crowd of people.

"You're so brave," he says admiringly. Mostly because the only thing he can do in front of an audience is dance and anything else would reduce him to nothing more than jelly legs and sweating armpits.

"Nah," she replies modestly. "It's just what I love."

They've made it a tradition to share a dessert after dinner, mostly because Tina can never finish a whole plate of cake or brownies or whatever they're having that day and because he doesn't really have the world's biggest sweet tooth. They pick cheesecake today because it's her favorite and tonight's all about _Tina_, although he's hoping that she hasn't noticed yet, what with the tux and the dessert and everything. He's doing his best to keep things subtle because he wants her to be surprised, but he's kind of already panicking that she might be on to him already.

He had originally considered doing the corny thing where you hide the ring in the cake but he knows Tina and he knows she doesn't _do_ corny. She likes things straightforward and practical, and he loves her for it, but it also kind of forces him to either be classy or original, which he isn't all that good at but he's gotten better. So as they finish up the last of the cheesecake, he bites his lip in preparation for something that he's simultaneously so sure about but also nervous out of his mind for.

He's pulling the chair out and sort of stumbling a little as the tablecloth gets caught underneath one of the legs (of _course_), and then he's all of a sudden on one knee and he can't really think straight anymore- he just knows that he needs to tell her. Tell her everything he's been planning for the past couple weeks. No, for the past _six years._

Tina's eyes are getting _enormous_. Bigger than he's ever seen them before and he's really hoping it's not out of fear or panic but out of genuine, happy surprise but there's really no turning back now so he pulls the little box out from his pocket and holding it out for her.

"Tina... Tina Cohen-Chang-"

"_-Mike..._"

"Will you marry me?" The words escape him like one big breath and he knows it's way too late to turn back but he also knows that he doesn't regret any of it because he's just pulled out his heart and held it out for her and that's what he wanted all along. His mind is thinking a million different things right now but it's trying very hard to focus on Tina, whose mouth is open but not releasing words.

The entire restaurant is quiet because it's not often you see some guy on his knee with a ring out for a girl, and obviously everyone wants to know if she says yes or not, but he's really kind of wishing they wouldn't watch. _Tina_. Focus on Tina.

This is when every scenario that he had originally anticipated is reeling in his mind because she isn't _saying _anything and it's seriously killing him because even if her answer is no, he really just wants to hear what she has to say. Although please don't let it be no.

Her answer comes like a whisper, but it echoes infinitely louder than anything he's ever heard before in between his ears.

"_Yes_. Of course yes, do you even have to _ask?_"

And she's suddenly leaping into his arms and the entire restaurant is clapping not that he gives a damn about anybody else in the restaurant except _her_. She's warm and soft and _lovely_ in every way possible and he's gripping onto her waist tighter than he's ever managed before. He can feel her arms around his neck and her heavy breath in his ears and all he can see and feel and hear is _Tina_. After what feels like forever, she pulls away slowly and sure enough, she's crying her eyes out and he kisses the tears that run down her cheek before pulling the ring gently out of its box and slipping it over her ring finger and it looks _amazing_ there.

And he knows he doesn't really believe in fate or anything like that but it's on her finger like it _belongs_ there.

Kind of the same way she belongs where she is right now. With him. And that ring on her finger is now physical proof that they _both_ feel that same way.

And nothing made Mike Chang happier than that.

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**A/N: Lots and lots and lots and lots of fluff but I was so tempted to write this so let me know what you thought!**


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